"...."

"...."

"No," that way, I closed my door.

"Wait, wait!" Shouted Alice as she held the door, prevent it from closing.

"Come on... I've struggled so hard just to meet you," she said as she continued to hold the door in despair.

Struggled so hard? You just have to go to the side when you get out of your room. So where lies the struggle?

"What do you want?"

"Just let me in first, I'll say it inside the room," she said who began to pant.

"Tsk, make it quick."

I stopped pushing my door and causing Alice, who was still holding the door to fall forward.

"Ouch ...."

She sat on the floor rubbing her head.

"It hurts you know?"

"I don't care, hurry up and say what you want," I said as I closed the door.

"Urgh ... Fine, but can I sit at this bed?" She stood up and pointed at my bed.

"No."

"Sitting anyway."

She buries her butt in my bed and rockes her legs lightly.

I sighed tiredly at her behavior.

"*Sigh* Let's end this as soon as possible."

I then walked and stood in front of her.

"So? What do you want to say?"

She looked at me for a moment before lowering her head (again) and running her fingers through her pigtails.

"Uhh... You know-"

"I don't know, now you can get out of my room," then I turned around and wanted to walk to open the door.

"I'm not done!" She exclaimed, pulling my shirt.

"Come on ... It's already my bedtime you know?" I said while turning around lazily.

"... At least listen to myself first..... I tried really hard to get the courage to meet you, you know?" She said in a low voice.

"Alright, alright, I'm listening."

"Then .... Can you sit beside me?" She said as she patted the empty side beside her left.

I complied and sat beside her.

"So? what it is?"

".... It's about what happened before."

"You saved me, so .... Uhh .... I- I wanted to say ...." She fidgeted with her fingers and her voice began to falter.

"T- thank you!" In a high, deafening voice, she shouted. Makes my eardrums vibrate and made me covering my ears.

*Ngung*

I could feel the buzz buzzing over and over in my ear.

"That's it?" I said after covering my ears.

She nodded her head.

Wow, you really took pains to say that.

"I appreciate your thanks. Now, you can come out of my room."

I got up from my bed and walked over to open the door.

But again, she grabbed my shirt from behind that makes me stop and turned around again.

"What's now?"

Can we end this? I seriously want to sleep right now.

"I- as th- thanks, I- I will do whatever you say!" Still looking down.

Come on, it's rude not to look at the person you're talking to, you know? Very unethical.

"I don't have anything to ask, you can save it for later."

"No! I'll do anything to thank you!" She insisted and tugged my shirt roughly.

"Are you deaf? I don't have anything to ask. So can you come out now?"

"Then I'll stay here until you ask me something!"

Wow, she's so stubborn and pushy. Just like that bastard, I wondered if all the elves were this annoying?

[Hey, isn't this good?]

(Good? I can't sleep because of this stubborn elf and you said it's good?)

[No, not that.]

[She's an elf, you know? Elves are known to be good at magic. Maybe you can ask her to train you.]

(Huh? Training with this elf? A big no, I can already see how troublesome and annoying it is to train with this elf.)

Yeah, no doubt it will be a very annoying and vexing experience that I must try to avoid at all cost.

[So you prefer to practice through learning features and let the side effects kill you slowly?]

(I won't use that either. I won't use magic and just rely on swordsmanship skills.)

[Come on.... You can't last long out there with basic skills like that.]

[You better accept the offer while it's still warm.]

(No is no.)

[You're so stubborn you know?]

(Yeah I know.)

[And you are proud of that?]

(Yeah I am.)

[...]

(...)

[Tch, just wait there, you bitch.]

(.... Did you called me bitch?)

And what do I need to wait here?

Ting Tong!

'New Quest available! Asking Alice to teach magic '
'Reward: No reward for ya bitch!'
'Penalty: Died 24 hours after this Quest announcement'

Shortly, thereafter a notification appeared displaying a ridiculous quest.

(Oi oi oi. What the fuck is this shit?)

[*Phew* There you go, with this, you can't help but ask her to teach you magic]

(What? You made this quest?)

[Yes.]

(How the fuck?)

[Duh. I'm a "system" myself, of course I have control over my own.]

I don't know about that.

Wait, if he's been organizing my quest all this time, that means ...

(Did you also the one who made my first quest?)

[Who knows?]

(Fuck you.)

So, here it is. This shitty system is in charge of my terrible first quest. Do you really like seeing me in torment?

*Tugged*

"Zein?"

Alice pulled back my shirt and looked at me. She confused why I was suddenly silent and dumbfounded.

[There you go, this your chance, don't let me down!]

Oh shut the fuck off would you? Because of you now I have to deal with a quest that has an absurd penalty! You didn't even give me any reward for that quest!

"Do..... Do you hate me?" This time she asked it in a somewhat somber and apprehensive voice.

Good, now she even looks like she wants to cry. Where was your arrogant and annoying attitude before?

"It's not it" I had to be careful now not to make this elf princess cry.

"Then, why do you really want to refuse *sob* my kindness? *Sob*"

Nooo, why are you crying now?

"Hey, hey. Why are you crying?" I asked her who started sobbing.

"*sob* It's because I'm afraid you hate me *sob*"

"I'm afraid if you hate me *sob* you will leave me alone here *sob*" Her voice falters and is interrupted by hiccups from her sobbing.

And where did you get such thoughts from? Do I look like a bad person to you?

[You should be able to judge by your face.]

(Thank you for the useless words.)

[C'mon, I'm just kidding.]

I ain't got shit for your unfunny joke.

[Well, after seeing the angry you before. I guess that made her think you hated her and feared that you would abandon her here.]

(It's a lie if I say I'm not pissed off by her attitude, but that doesn't mean I'll abandon her.)

I'm not a bad person who just abandons other people (maybe). And I will also think twice before abandoning others (maybe), let alone an elf princess like this.

All I got that I will be a fugitive for those fucking elves if they found out I abandoned their beloved princess.

Bringing this elf might be troublesome, but it would be even more troublesome to deal with those elves.

[Then, tell her. If you don't tell her then she won't know.]

"Um, Alice," not knowing how to calm herself down, I called out her name and grabbed her trembling shoulder.

She lifted her face and looked at me with her blue eyes wet with tears. She's trying to hold back the tears with her small hands.

Alright, it's time for a soothing speech.

"Listen, bringing yourself is a pain, but it will- AWW!" Suddenly, I felt an electric shock on my back that interrupted my soothing speech.

[Soothing your ass! Why would you even say that!?]

(I'm just saying what's in my head!)

[Your head is stupid! Look at her! She is now ready to cry out loud!]

I saw Alice looking up at me, her eyes now filled with tears, her lips quivering and twitching wildly. Ready to explode at any time.

Of course, this is not good.

[That's certainly not good.]

(I can see it myself.)

[You're so hopeless.]

[I will help you. Now you shut your mouth and follow what I say.]

(Al- alright)

"Uh, listen. I don't hate you, ok? I turned it down because I really didn't have anything to ask," I said copying the words of my system.

[Good, now you take her shoulder and use your hand to wipe her tears. While saying "Now, stop crying ok?"]

(Huh? Should I do it?)

[Yes, your words are still not enough to convince her.]

(But, that sounds embarrassing.)

[Just bear with it if you want this to be over.]

(Ugh, fine then.)

So I moved my right hand to touch her cheek and wiped the tears from her eyelids using my finger. While saying.

"Now, stop crying ok?"

I did it! I fucking did it!

Man, I can feel my face getting hot with embarrassment. If there was a hole here I would crawl inside to hide myself.

Alice was startled because I suddenly touched her face, but she then calmed down and turning her face to the side.

"Is that true? *sob* You're not *sob* going to abandon me?" She asked to be certain about what she heard.

[Alright, this is the last execution. You turn her head to face you and say "of course" with a pause, then you pat and stroke her head while saying "I certainly won't abandon a cute elf girl like you."]

(What? Are you fucking kidding me? Like hell I would say such an embarrassing thing!)

[No, I'm not kidding. I'm deadly serious here.]

[If you do what I say, it will make her feel like you really meant what you said. Not just bullshit.]

(Tch, just this time I'll obey you.)

Then, I turned her head using my hand that still on her face to face me.

I stared into her sapphire blue eyes for a moment before moving on to the next step.

"Of course," I lifted my hand from her face and placed it on her head.

She was surprised by my hand that on top of her head.

I paused for a moment before patted and stroked her head. She looks reluctant for a moment, but then she seems to be enjoying it while closing her eyes.

[Time for the final execution!]

(You seem to be enjoying this a lot, you know?)

I took a deep breath before saying the final sentence.

"I certainly won't leave you alone."

[Hey! It's different from what I said!]

(Shut it, I can't say such an embarrassing thing.)

Just doing this is embarrassing me to death.

There was no more sad and crying expression on her face, all that was visible now a comfortable and spoiled expression on her face. Although her eyes still look swollen from the sobbing earlier.

After stroked her head for a while, I pulled my hand back.

"Ah..." Alice let out a plaint, with a gesture as if she was disappointed.

"Alright then, now you better go back to your room, because tomorrow we will go to the adventure guild."

"Um," She nodded shyly and walked out of my room.

Klek.

"Fucking finally," I let out a loud, relieved sigh.

Finally, the problem has been resolved, it's time to sleep!

Without further ado, I ran to my bed and slammed myself onto the bed.

[Didn't you forget something?]

(Huh? What is it?)

'Quest available: Asking Alice to teach magic'
'Reward: No reward for ya bitch!'
'Penalty: Died 24 hours after this Quest announcement'
'Remaining times: 23:02:23'

Then a transparent screen appeared showing the quest that would determine my life and death in the next 24 hours.

Well, there's plenty of time so I'll just do it tomorrow.